Hypnotherapy Making Change Happen
By Seeing Beyond The Obvious!
The Change From Without Occurs From Within!
Very often clients are unaware of exactly what hypnotherapy is, so it can be useful to understand what it is and even more useful, to experience it, so what is it? Hypnotherapy is a type of talk therapy that consists of two parts.
Part 1 is conducted at the conscious level and is also where therapeutic interventions are presented, both consciously and subconsciously.
Part 2 occurs exclusively at the subconscious level, while the client is in a state called, trance!
Trance states are similar, in terms of brainwave activity, to sleep states and it is in sleep states that the brain consolidates memories and learning from various stages of memory into long term memory. At the level of the brain and cells, this process is facilitated by what is known as long term potentiation. So, in that context, hypnosis works in similar ways to natural brain functions.
In the hypnotist's chair, you will be guided into these trance states by the hypnotist but in order to be effective for you, we need to know how you experience hypnosis because we all experience it differently. The three most popular ways we experience hypnosis are in line with our primary sensory modality and although we have 5 senses, the three most prevalent are vision, kinesthetics (touchy-feely) and auditory. Of course, we experience all three of these but one usually has dominance. During my free consultation, discovering which is your preferred modality, is the major objective and knowing this, helps me to deliver hypnosis in the way that best suits you!
Life, as both an experience and a process, starts from the moment we are born and our brain faithfully records everything it perceives as important. Chief among these things are experiences that are perceived as being important to survival and what we know as, child, parent bonding, is key among these for the developing child. However, the way these memories are stored is uniquely in line with the developmental stage of the child, hence childhood memories are very different from adult memories of the same experience/event. As long as the child experiences life in a relatively normal way, their development should pass through the various stages without issue. If however, they experience a challenging and difficult childhood, things may not develop so well and that can lead to difficulty as a child or later on when either adolescence or adulthood.
As children we all experience some kind of fantasy experience, in the western world, Santa Clause and the tooth fairy are two such fantasies and children pass through this stage without issue. But what about a child that is sexually abused and is taught to believe it’s a game or worse, scared into keeping silent through fear of punishment? The outcome of this type of childhood is becoming far too clear these days!
For many adults, an issue can arise later in life and the reasons for it, can be concealed and thus, confusing. Usually, they are buried in memories stored at a different time of life and some of these memories are activated by a particular sensory/bodily experience that may not have any context to us, in our physical life. This I explain during the free consultation because very often it can be better explained, relative to each individual client and the nature and development of their condition.
So, hypnosis is a method of working with our brain, via the ears/auditory cortex, and communicates at the very level of cells/synapses, the same place where memories are stored and ready for recall/activation at any time of the day. And even while we are asleep, the brain still carries on doing its never-ending work. What we term behaviour, is simply the reenactment of memories that elicit a certain behaviour, aka habits! In that sense, memories are akin to Google algorithms, shortcuts to a specific outcome for a stored event/experience. The problem for people with some kind of an emotional or mental disorder is that there has been some form of maladaptive behaviour that prevents the brain from functioning normally or as we would hope or expect and this is where therapy enters the picture!
So, if something in your life is not working out as you had hoped or life is just not a pleasant experience, maybe it’s time to seek help and I make that a very easy process for you, by offering a Free 1-hour Consultation, during which you can discuss your issue, ask as many questions as you wish and, experience first hand what hypnosis feels like!
